


Weirdly Magical

by im_the_king_of_the_ocean



Category: Gravity Falls, The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Field Trip, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:28:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22427857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_the_king_of_the_ocean/pseuds/im_the_king_of_the_ocean
Summary: Eda takes Luz and King on an interdimensional field trip, to acquire some ingredients for her potions and also to mess with an old acquaintance by the name of Stan Pines.Things don't go quite as anticipated.
Relationships: Eda & Luz Noceda
Comments: 133
Kudos: 673





	1. The Most Magical (Weird) Place On Earth

**Author's Note:**

> so this is partly inspired by a comment on my other Owl House fic, where MysteryGirl7Freak wondered about what would happen if Eda and Grunkle Stan met, which got me to start wondering about those two and then soon after there were words happening and now this fic sort of exists.
> 
> anywho I'm kinda excited to see where it goes and what you guys think. I got into Gravity Falls back just before the Weirdmageddon finale and that was still a little before when I started interacting with fandoms, so I never wrote for it. I'm eager to revisit that quirky world, as well as do it with a new cast of characters I'm still familiarizing myself with.
> 
> so, yeah, hope you all enjoy and this should be an adventure of a fic :D
> 
> [also available to read on my tumblr here](https://im-the-king-of-the-ocean.tumblr.com/post/190486212567/i-intend-to-write-more-of-this-fic-but-i-wanted)

Luz flips the page of her book.Somewhere, distantly in the owl house, she hears a heavy thump.She pauses in her reading, considers, and then goes back to her story.This thump is a little bit closer than the last one, which doesn’t really mean anything except that Eda has stopped searching through the farthest corners of the house.Originally, Luz tried to help Eda locate the potion ingredients she’s been looking for for the past two hours, but, after the fourth almost accidental hexing via enchanted object carelessly thrown out of the way by a grumpy, determined witch, she decided to quietly slip away to her room.To give Eda some space.Also, for safety reasons.

(Sure, Luz fully believes Eda would reverse the effects of any accidental hexing, but she doesn’t really want to be hexed in the first place either).

Soon after, King joined Luz, stating he had no interest in climbing into small, dark, potentially _slimy_ crevices for the stuff Eda needs to be found.He then allowed Luz to give him some pets right between his shoulders where he can’t quite reach, and finally settled on her sleeping bag for a nap, where he snoozes still.

It’s a quieter day than Luz is used to, but she doesn’t mind.Willow gave her a few books from the school’s library, as well as a translator trinket, and she’s been reading through a thrilling selection of the definitely very weird fiction novels the Boiling Isles has to offer and enjoying them immensely.

Eda’s footsteps approach her room and the door opens.

“Look alive, you two,” Eda greets them.“We’re going on a field trip.”

Luz jerks her head up, a wide smile rapidly forming on her face.“A field trip?!To where?Somewhere dangerous?Somewhere magical?Somewhere dangerously magical?”

“To the human realm!”Eda announces with a little flourish of her hands.

Luz’s smile disappears.“To the _human_ realm?”She repeats Eda’s words hesitantly.“But there’s nothing magical on my world.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Eda says at the same time as King lets out a long, distracting groan.Both Eda and Luz look in his direction.

King cracks one eye open and uses it to give Eda a Look.“We’re not going where I think we’re going, are we?Please tell me that’s _not_ where we’re going.”

“That’s exactly where we’re going, King!”Eda tells him with a laugh.

King groans again.“I’ll stay here and help Hooty watch the house.It’s an important job, you can thank me later.”

“No, I need you for my plan to work.You’re coming.”Eda nudges King fully awake with her foot.He glares at her, but gets to his feet regardless.

Luz follows them out of her room.“I don’t understand.Humans don’t have magic.If we did, there would have been a major discovery about it or something, it’d be all over the Internet, and I would have heard about it cause I follow all the message boards and—”

“This isn’t a kind of magic you’ve been introduced to yet,” Eda interrupts, and goes into her rare Mentor Voice.“There is one place on your world where the boundaries between realities is thin enough to let more magic than usual to leak through.”She gestures for her staff to come to her when they reach the table where she’s left the key to her cross-dimensional door.Luz has enough time to put on her cat hoodie and tie her shoes while the staff comes.

When she finally has her staff, Eda opens the door and continues, “After enough time, the magic mixed in with the general atmosphere of your world and created a place that’s a bit weirder than your average corner of the Earth.Strangely, instead of avoiding it, you humans decided to build a town there anyway.”She shrugs.“Each to their own and all that, I suppose.But, from what I know of it, no one outside of the town ever believes anything that happens there actually happens.”

“Like Vegas!”King chimes in.

“We’re not going to Vegas,” Eda deadpans.“We’re going to someplace much _better,_ to get the ingredient I need.”She steps through the door.Eagerly, Luz follows her.

“…The bathroom of a greasy diner.”Luz takes in their cramped surroundings, and tries not to feel disappointed.

“Hey, at least it’s empty,” King tells her.“Last time it wasn’t and, I don’t know what it is exactly, but something about my voice freaks the people of this town out.A lot.It’s insulting,” he grumbles.“If there were any possessing going on, _I,_ the ALMIGHT KING OF DEMONS would be the one doing it!”

“Quiet, you.” Eda orders him.“And get into disguise.”She snap her fingers.A large hat and a onesie fit for a small pet appears out of nowhere.

“Ah, do I _have_ to?” King complains.

Eda puts the hat on, making sure it covers the pointy tips of her ears.“Yes.”She holds out the onesie for King to take.He grumbles some more, but puts it on and pulls its hood up over his short horns.

“Let’s just get this over with already,” he mutters, as Luz coos at how cute he looks.

They exit the bathroom.The diner proper is as greasy as Luz expected it to be.She sighs and follows Eda and King to an empty table.She supposes she shouldn’t be too disappointed.Their idea of weird (and, arguably, _cool_ ) is very different from her own, after all.

She just thought that would mean things would be _more_ cool.

“Alright, now here’s what we’re going to do…”Eda begins when their waitress, who introduced herself as ‘Lazy’ Susan, goes off to get waters for them.

Luz half-listens to Eda while also looking around.

There’s no one sitting at any other table.In fact, the only other person in the diner is an old man with a long white beard apparently sleeping in the corner.If it wasn’t for her recent poor experience with a “wizard” and the fact this man has a band-aid stuck in his beard, Luz would have hoped he’s some kind of magical genius man capable of coming up with the most absurd yet effective automatons.

Eda continues on, oblivious to Luz’s distraction, “The place you’re going to has regular ‘tours’ of their ‘supernatural exhibits’.Luz, you’re going to sneak in as part of a tour group.Keep the old man distracted, ask him lots of questions.You know, annoying child things.King, you sneak in around the back to where they keep the extra merchandise and fill this sack with it.”She passes a sack over to him.“While you’re doing that, I’m going to be out in the woods getting the ingredients I need for my potion.”

Luz frowns.“I don’t know.This kinda seems exactly like we’re stealing from someone.Can’t we just come with you into the woods?”

“No, what I’m going to be doing is far too _dangerous_ for you.”Eda laughs.“That’s why you’re staying in the human areas, where it is perfectly safe.”

Luz sits back and crosses her arms.“Why did you even bring us if we’re not even going to be doing whatever fun, magical thing you’re doing?”

“I can’t leave King alone in the house for more than five minutes without him accidentally destroying something.You think I’m just going to leave _both_ of you unsupervised?”Eda smirks.“This way, when you cause trouble, somebody else will have to clean up the mess.”

“But why do we have to _steal_?”

“It’s fun!”King pipes up.“What other reason could you possibly want?”

Luz glares at him.

“Look.”Eda sighs.“I got stuck here once.Stan gave me a place to stay, blah, blah, blah, long story short, never agree to pretend to be a guy’s ‘vampire girlfriend’.It won’t end well.Now, the way I see it, since we’re here anyway, we can play a little prank on Stan.Don’t worry.”She pats the back of Luz’s hand reassuringly.“We’ll give all the stuff back, I promise you that.”

“O-okay,” Luz finally agrees.“As long as we give the stuff back.”

“Fantastic!Now, off to the Mystery Shack!”


	2. Not Quite According To Plan

The Mystery Shack both is and isn’t what Luz expects it to be.She never really went on a lot of trips with her mom, but they’d once gone on a cross-country road trip to visit family.Along the way, they’d stopped at a handful of tourist traps when the endless driving got too boring.Based on her experience with such places, Luz can say definitively the Mystery Shack is one at first glance.The “S” on its big, rooftop sign has even fallen off, transforming the word “shack” into “hack”.It couldn’t be more obvious about what it’s all about even if it tried.

And yet.

Luz feels something _shift_ when she steps onto the Mystery Shack property.The hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.She instinctively shivers.Luz has gotten better and better at sensing magical presences the longer she stays with Eda, but she feels none of that here.But, this feeling, it’s definitely, distinctively _something_.

It’s like the Mystery Shack itself is saying, _look at me.Look how normal I am.Just a normal tourist trap full of fake things.Nothing truly unusual to see here.Haha._ But the way it feels like those words are being said is through sarcasm, through the voice of someone who knows a great secret they’re proud of and don’t want to share because lording it over everyone else is far too much fun.

Luz narrows her eyes.“I will find out your secrets, Mystery Shack,” she answers the unspoken words quietly.No secret is ever safe from Luz Noceda, Expert at Predicting Plot Twists Before They Happen.She’s already stumbled across one weirdly magical world.If this place is another one, she’ll find out all about it.

Suddenly, Luz feels less bad about Eda ditching her here to go off into the woods by herself.Maybe she’ll find the _real_ magical stuff.Maybe it’ll be here, hiding in plain sight in a tourist trap instead of out in the mysterious woods.Wouldn’t _that_ be a plot twist?

“Welcome one, welcome all!”A big fellow in a suit, a fez, and donning an eyepatch over one eye steps out in front of the crowd gathering at the Shack’s entrance.“Are you ready to be awed?Inspired? _Horrified_ —I’m just kidding on that last ones guys, there’s nothing horrifying here.Not since…” the man pointedly breaks off, chuckles knowingly to himself, and winks at a few people in the audience.“Well maybe a few of us locals could tell you guys some stories later.”

“That’s my cue,”King scrambles down from Luz’s shoulder (rather than walking to their destination himself, he’d claimed he needed to conserve his energy and hitched a ride on her).He half-salutes Luz.“I’ll be back later with a bunch of stolen stuff.”

“That we’re going to give back,” Luz reminds him.

“Right, right.”King bounds off around the side of the building.“Ooh I hope Wax Sherlock Holmes is around somewhere.Messing with him is _fun_.”

Luz watches King go.Briefly, she wonders about ‘Wax Sherlock Holmes’, but then the tour guide, Mr. Mystery, begins leading people into the building.She wiggles her way through the crowd to the front.No one seems to mind too much.Probably since she’s a kid.

The first exhibit they stop at rises high above their heads and arcs over them.It’s obviously a _fake_ sea monster.Luz can see the places where the metal plates are screwed into each other.Plus it only has an (admittedly very long) neck, but no body.

“If you’ve been to Gravity Falls before I’m sure you’ve heard the Legend of the Gobblewonker that lives in Lake Gravity Falls,” Mr. Mystery starts.“Now, I couldn’t get the actual gobblewonker here.That would have made him soo cranky.Trust me, dudes, that lake creature does not like disturbances.But, our very own hometown genius, one Fiddleford McGucket, has built us an amazingly realistic replica—”He steps over by a lever on the wall and pulls it.“One that may even eat you alive!”

The Gobblewonker neck stretches down just above the tourists’ heads.It’s jaws snap open and shut.

Most ooh and awe.One lady shrieks.Luz blinks.

Sure, it’s a pretty cool automaton, but when you animate an entire house, take it on a joy ride, and end up having to fight off demon hunters who threw you off a cliff, you don’t really feel endangered by this sort of thing anymore.

Mr. Mystery notices Luz’s non-reaction.The corners of his mouth tip down in the slightest of frowns.Luz assumes he’s just disappointed he didn’t amaze her like he’s supposed to.She quietly decides to act awed at the next exhibit.

The tour goes on.They visit exhibits of clearly glued together creatures (Luz would know, she did a _ton_ of research back when she was putting together her anatomically correct griffin).She considers recommending Mr. Mystery a glue brand she knows will work way better than the one used for the “stomach-faced duck”, but decides to hold such comments until after the tour is over.She doesn’t want to embarrass him.

When the tour comes to an end in the gift shop, Luz realizes she wasn’t nearly as ‘distracting’ as Eda probably had wanted her to be.She decides it’s no big deal.Everyone’s here in the gift shop, anyway.It’s not like the Mystery Shack is the kind of place that would have a teenage, summer employee who would be back cataloging the stock in the storeroom while her boss’s girlfriend works the register or anything.

A large pig (probably 15 pounds in weight, if Luz were to try and guess), waddles up and sniffs at her shoes while Luz nonchalantly browses the shop’s t-shirt selection.Luz smiles, bends down, and scratches the pig behind his ears.He oinks happily at her.

“WADDLES!Where did you—Oh!”A girl wearing a too thick for summer weather sweater runs up to Luz and the pig.Her long, brown hair thumps against her back as she skids to a halt.“You know better than to approach strangers, Waddles!What if she doesn’t like pigs?”The girl, with strength that surprised Luz, reaches down and pulls the pig up into her arms.“Sorry about that,” she addresses Luz.“He’s really a super nice and friendly pig.But I know not everyone likes pigs.We just got here for the summer, and I guess he’s just as excited as I am to be in Gravity Falls again!Gah!I’m rambling—hi, I’m Mabel!”

Luz takes a moment to absorb all the words Mabel practically shouted at her.“Uh, hi, I’m Luz.Luz Noceda.”

“Nice to meet you, Luz.Are you visiting with your family?Have you gone on the tour yet?I can show you all the secret, _special_ exhibits if you want.Soos is a great Mr. Mystery and all, but Dipper says we can’t show any of the _real_ stuff to tourists after the thing with the Gremloblin.”Mabel pauses for breath.“Which means I can’t show you _everything_ , but you look like the type of person who’d be a new summer friend and, if you are, you’re gonna have to get used to stuff fast.”

Luz blinks.“There _is_ actually real stuff?”

Before Mabel has the chance to answer, Mr. Mystery himself walks up to them.“Mabel!You’re here!”He pulls her into a big bear hug.

“We just arrived!”Mabel laughs and squeezes him back.“Dipper’s saying ‘hi’ to Wendy.They’re gonna trade hats again for the summer.Waddles wandered in here and led me to my new friend, Luz.”She gestures to Luz.“Luz, this is Soos.”

“A pleasure to meet you.”Soos holds out his hand.He frowns.“I noticed you weren’t with anyone on the tour.Are your parents near—?”

“Hey!” the cashier lady yells over, interrupting Soos.“Your tour bus just departed!We could probably catch up to them in the golf cart if we leave right now,” she calls to Luz.

“No, that’s okay,” Luz answers.“I didn’t come here with that tourist group.”

“Then who—”

“I demand you unhand me at once!I am an almighty KING OF DEMONS!You shall cower in fear of my WRATH!”King’s voice precedes him into the building.

A boy, similar in appearance to Mabel, and a tall, redhead, teenager girl, enter the giftshop.The girl has King held by his scruff, and is holding him at arm’s length.

“Can you _not_ shout, man,” She grumbles.“I’m going to have the worst headache because of you.”

“I’m still not convinced he’s not some weird reincarnation of Bill.”The boy crosses his arms and glares at King.

King swings his limbs in a futile bid for escape.He looks all around, and spots Luz, “Luz!Save me!They’re being so _mean_!”

“We’re only mean because you were messing up our storeroom!You have any idea how long it took for me to organize all of that?”The girl snaps at him.Then, she looks to Luz.“You seem to know this little menace.Can you tell us where he came from?”

“Umm…”

* * *

Twigs crunch under Eda’s feet as she progresses deeper into the woods.She stops, and draws a spell circle to summon a breeze to blow all the leaves, sticks, and unlucky bugs off the forest floor.Thankfully, there are no footprints on the ground around her.Not that Eda particularly minds the inhabitants of these woods.She has no quarrel with them so long as they have none with her.But she’s already going to have to deal with the _unicorns_ (twice, no less) today, and she’d really rather not be proposed to by the gnomes again.

One day, once she’s found (and taken rightful justice against) the person who put her owl curse on her, Eda is going to find the one who put her secondary ‘adversaries try to date me for some reason’ curse on her and give them a piece of her mind about it.Sure, she has no recollection of a second curse ever happening, but that doesn’t mean it _didn’t_ happen.It’s that, or Eda just happens to have really bad luck with these things, which she supposes _could_ be true, but it’s funnier to blame an outside force than to accept that.

Comedy has always been her best coping mechanism as the “unfortunate twin” to Lilith’s perfection at _literally_ everything.

Eda continues on her way.Passing by a particularly thick tree with roots that look like a foot, she notices the tell-tale footprints of the Hide Behind and carefully avoids turning around.She’ll have a better chance of catching sight of the creature if it thinks she’s not looking.

Her attention being on what’s behind her, Eda doesn’t catch sight of the log that trips her up before she stumbles and falls flat on her belly.

“Oww.” She groans, rubbing her hip, which hit a particularly hard rock.

Eda stands, and then turns to look down at the rock, which is more like a boulder.An oddly shaped, almost triangular, wait…

Eda stares down at a statue of a large triangle, with a giant eye and wearing a top hat, that’s holding out a hand to her.

“Huh.”She considers the statue.“Well, that’s certainly new.”

A breeze blows by, and carries a faint, secretive whispering into Eda ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are enjoying this fic as much as I have been writing it <3
> 
> a couple notes:
> 
> -The Grunkles will be making an appearance, don't worry! I will not say when or how outside of the narrative itself. They'll be tagged when the time is right ;)
> 
> -To confirm the answer to everyone's question after last chapter, yes, this takes place post-Weirdmaggedon. I didn't want to answer that in the comments section (I felt just giving the answer would spoil the narrative's flow). I liked the idea of the story coming across through Luz's eyes. She is introduced to Soos as "Mr. Mystery" first, which I hoped would make you guys at least wonder a little, before the reveal happens organically within the narrative.
> 
> -Finally, just, please be patient. I love writing this story, but it's not the only thing I have going on. There's going to be a bit of a wait between each chapter, but they will come.


	3. A Witch's Deepest Desire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! Long time no see!
> 
> okay yeah I never intended to let this story go for so long. Just, the first half of 2020 was super rough (as I'm sure you all know there was a pandemic - it sort of screwed with my life a lot). Anyways, here's chapter 3. I may make further edits to it later, since it's been written in short spurts over a span of months and I can't kick the feeling that I've left something out or not addressed a plot point I originally planned to (word of advice - always write down everything you want to happen in a story bc then it will be months after you started and you're worried you neglected to think of something bc it's been so long).
> 
> Anywho I feel that it's high time I share an update with you all, and this fairly covers the scope of the direction the story is going in, so yeah.
> 
> If you're reading this and you haven't given up on this story, I want to thank you. I know it was a long wait and I hope this chapter is worth it for you guys too.
> 
> EDIT 8/26/20 - made minor grammar edits and slight wording changes. I replaced some of King's dialogue where he said he would curse Dipper bc it didn't sit right with me that King would joke about curses knowing what he does about Eda. Additionally some of Bill's dialogue about controlling Eda while her demon side was removed (it was supposed to lead into something, and that hasn't really worked out well in the writing of ch4).
> 
> Next chapter should be coming soon(ish)!

Neither Stan nor Ford ever really expect normalcy when they return to the Mystery Shack after one of their own adventures.Sure, the Shack is normal in the same sense that it’s _home_ , the place they head to when they’re exhausted of all the zaniness elsewhere.Even then, it has never quite fit the mold of ‘normal’ a regular house, like the one their great niece and nephew live in in Piedmont, fulfills.

Still, there’s a ‘normal’ for the Shack, which is at least 75% weirder than the average, non-Gravity Falls location.And then there’s _weird_ for the Shack, which tends to mean something Big (and potentially Earth-destroying) is about to happen.

When Stan and Ford first pull up and park their car outside, they believe the situation to be the former.Given they passed no running, screaming-for-their-lives tourists on the last leg of their drive, the roof appears to still be in place where it should be, and there are no monster roars coming from inside, they have no reason to really think otherwise.

Then, they get out of their car, actually go inside, and gain all the evidence they need to change their minds.

Stan and Ford walk into what they consider the Pre-Mess stage of a distaster, the point where things are just getting started and the havoc itself hasn’t necessarily been unleashed yet.

There’s the usual gang; Soos, Melody, Wendy, and the kids (who’re the reason for the Grunkles return _now_.They’d never, not for anything in the world, miss a summer with Dipper and Mabel).Then there’s the newcomers; a girl around Dipper and Mabel’s age wearing a cat hoodie, and a small fox creature with what looks like a skull overtop his head (like that one Pokemon Stan can never remember the name of).

Stan inhales sharply through his teeth, silently mourns what could have been a pleasant afternoon reclining, drinking a can of Pitt cola, and watching TV (if Dipper and Mabel weren’t planning on doing something more entertaining, like having a water balloon fight), and steps forward. 

“Anyone want to explain what’s going on here?”

All eyes turn to Stan.When he meets the gaze of the little fox creature struggling in Wendy’s grasp, recognition sparks between them.“ _YOU_!” is shouted in unison. 

King lunges.Wendy loses her grasp on him.She falls, stumbles, and slides on the floor with a grumbled ‘oof’.King lands on Stan’s chest, causing the man to almost lose his balance.The demon snatches Stan’s glasses off his face and scrambles to the top of his head.

“Luz, come on!I got the old guy’s glasses!That’s gotta be enough for the prank!”King yells over to the girl in the cat hoodie, while preparing to jump off Stan.

Stan swipes and catches King by the tail.“No, you don’t!”He pulls his glasses out of King’s paw, shoves them crookedly back on his face, and holds King an arm’s length away with one hand.With his other hand, Stan straightens his glasses.When he can see again, he glowers at King.

Despite being dangled upside down, King manages to make an attempt at ‘threatening’.It doesn’t work, as always, due to his inherent cuteness.“I demand you put me down at once!I am an almighty King of—”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before, pal.”Stan grunts.“Now, where’s Eda?I know you wouldn’t come here on your own.”

“That old hag?”King crosses his arms.“Pfft.I don’t consort with the lowly likes of _her_ anymore.”He gestures wildly behind him.“This is my new human, Luz.Luz, come here and say ‘hi’.”

Luz steps forward.“Um, hello?I’m Luz.”She waves awkwardly at Stan.

Unintentionally, Stan mentally runs through a quick handful of analyses.No, the kid is too young for the number of years it’s been to be his and Eda’s.Plus, she’s an ethnicity Stan is pretty sure the two of them couldn’t produce on their own.His mind takes a brief detour in the possibility of _grandchild_ , but dismisses it.Despite the sheer number of dirty jokes that had passed between them in their time together, he and Eda had never actually gone _that far_ anyway.

Stan realizes he’s staring (and everyone’s staring back at _him_ ).He gulps and hastily averts his gaze.He pinches the bridge of his nose.“Look, there’s a lot to unpack here.Why don’t we all go in the other room and have a nice long talk?”

* * *

Luz watches as a number of Looks pass between everyone but her.The second older man who came in with the one who has King by his tail raises an eyebrow at his companion.The older man holding King returns with the slightest of nods, which seems to be a satisfactory answer.The redhead teenage girl grumbles to herself, but leads the way past a door marked ‘employees only’.After giving Luz a long, slightly disconcerting stare, the boy who came in with her follows.Mabel reaches over, wraps an arm around Luz, gives her a quick, reassuring squeeze, and then skips after them.

Luz takes a deep, calming breath.She goes to follow, but the older man holding King stops her.“Here,” he gruffly hands the demon off to her before passing through the door.Quickly, Luz takes hold of King’s scruff and pulls him into a tight hug against her chest (partially to keep him in place so he can’t cause any more trouble, partially because holding him close soothes her nerves).

Soos and the cashier lady stay behind to manage the tourists still in the shop, who all seem completely unfazed by the events that just transpired.

The group is waiting for Luz when she walks through the door.The moment she steps into the next room, the boy rushes up to her and blows some kind of powder in her face.Luz, and King, sneeze.The boy takes advantage of their distraction to shine a light in their eyes.Luz yelps.Her grip on King loosens.

King escapes Luz’s arms.“You’re going to regret that hotshot!”He jumps at the boy, who dodges.“My vengeance will be swift!My vengeance will be merciless!”King continues, unfazed.“My vengeance will be—!”

“ _Dipper_!”Mabel jumps in front of ‘Dipper’, blocking King’s path.“They’re _not_ evil!Luz is really nice, she’s my new summer friend!”

Defensively, Dipper replies, “I had to be sure they weren’t possessed.He—“ he jerks a thumb at King, “—sounds _a lot_ like Bill.”

“Who is this ‘Bill’ you people keep referring to?”King interrupts.“And why haven’t you realized he probably sounds a lot like _me_?In my dimension, I am a revered and respected demon, with many, many admirers.Of course, some would try to emulate me.”

Everyone stares at him.There’s a noticeable, silent pause.

“Fine,” King admits.“Not _that_ many admirers.”

Luz collects King back in her arms.“We’re not evil.My name is Luz, and he’s King,” she introduces them again.“We’re um…tourists?”

“But, you’re not normal tourists are you?”One of the older men (Luz is having a difficult time telling them apart, they look extraordinary similar) crouches down to be at her level.“Stanford Pines.”He holds out a hand for her to shake.“I’m an interdimensional traveler as well.What dimension are you from?”

Luz stares at his hand.“Wow, six fingers.Are you a wizard?”There’s a six-fingered wizard in her Good Witch Azura books.It would be super cool if this guy were a wizard too.Luz frowns, remembering her first experience with a ‘wizard’.Well, they can’t _all_ be bad.

“Errr, no, just a regular person.”Ford chuckles awkwardly.

“Heh, ‘normal’, right.”The other older man comes up and puts a hand on Ford’s shoulder.“Look, kid, where’s Eda?I know she has to be around here somewhere.”

“Oh, she’s around alright, but we’ll NEVER TELL YOU, STAN PINES!”King yells before Luz can respond.He attempts to wiggle out of Luz’s grip and attack yet again, but fails.

Stan scrubs one hand down his face.He sighs.“Alright, fine.We’ll just all wait here until she comes for you.We both know she will.”

Neither King nor Luz argue that point.They know Eda will too.She’s _Eda_.

“Sooo.” Mabel steps into the middle of everyone, in a blatant attempt to further diffuse the situation.“What kind of wacky stuff do you do for fun in whatever dimension you’re from?”She asks Luz.

“Well, I’m from this dimension, the Human Realm,” Luz starts to explain.“But I’m Eda’s apprentice.She’s teaching me how to be a witch.”

“Oooh, so you know magic?”

A huge smile takes over Luz’s face.“Want to see a light spell I learned?”

* * *

Eda groans.She turns her gaze up to the sky.The day isn’t getting any younger and she has a lot to do ahead of her.As much fun as it would be to shake the triangle statue’s hand and see what happens, she doesn’t have time for whatever chaotic side quest will surely come of it.

“Sorry, pal,” Eda tells the statue.“Maybe some other time.”She starts to walk away.

As she’s passing through the trees, out of the corner of her eye, Eda sees something faintly glowing yellow.She jumps and spins around, arms out and ready to prepare a spell circle.It’s unlikely that another witch would be in the Human Realm at the same time as her.She’s the only one she knows of who even crosses over on a semi-regular basis.Stranger things have happened, though.This is Gravity Falls after all.

_Edalyn Clawthorne._

“Who’s there?”Eda narrows her eyes.In the shadows of the trees on the other side of the statue, she can just make out a large, hulking form looming.

_A friend who can help you acquire what you desire the most._

“Really?”Eda cracks a grin.“Let me guess, you’ll make me fabulously wealthy, lift my curse, fix my relationship with my sister, blah, blah, blah, and, in return, you want my soul or something?”She laughs with a snort.“Sorry again, pal, no dice.It’s gonna take a lot more than some ominous whispering to scam me.”

“Oh?You won’t even here me out?That’s too bad.You may like what I have to offer.”The voice comes from the direction of the hulking form in the shadows.Now, that she’s focusing on it, Eda can see its eerie, glowing, yellow eyes shine in the darkness.She tenses.Her grip tightens around her staff.Getting out of here may be harder than she thought.She decides to play along.

“Alright, sure, I’ll bite.What’re you offering?”

Whatever it is steps out of the shadows.Eda looks the creature up and down.It’s some sort of bull hybrid with blatantly masculine tattoos.A whatchamacallit—the name of the creature is on the tip of Eda’s tongue, but she can’t quite recall it.She remembers making jokes at Stan’s expense back in the day, after he spent hours with the creature’s gang trying to figure out ‘manly’ ways to impress her.

“The world has too many rules, don’t you think?Too many restrictions keeping you tethered down.On the run. _Alone_.”The creature approaches.Eda takes a step back.“Wouldn’t you like to be free?Wouldn’t you like the whole world to be free?See things from _your_ perspective, for once.”

“Sure, let’s say I’d like that,”Eda replies, edging towards the quickest path out of there.She would, for the record, love for Lilith, at least, to understand her side of things, but she’s long resigned herself to accepting that that’ll never happen.

“With our power combined, we could make _all of existence_ understand outcasts like us.No one would chase you, hurt you.You could have all you ever wanted and _more_.All you have to do is shake the statue’s hand.”The creature gestures back to the triangle statue.

Ah, there it is.Still a trap.

“Not gonna happen.”Eda makes a break for it.Running in heels isn’t _fun_ , but she’s had enough practice that’s she’s relatively adept at it.

Two seconds into her escape run, Eda slams smack into the chest of another Manotaur (oh, _now_ she remembers what the creatures are called).She feels its arms wrap around her own and begin to pin them to her sides.She looks up and sees the second Manotaur’s eyes glow yellow too.

The first Manotaur lets out a disturbing chuckle.“Oh, sweet Edalyn.Sweet, foolish Edalyn.You don’t have a choice in the matter.”He snaps his fingers.The rest of his gang steps out of the woods.All have the same glowing, yellow eyes.“Being stuck as this statue is _so boring_.I want _out._ And _you’re_ going to help me.”

“What makes you think I’m going to do that?I’m Eda the Owl Lady!I can’t be controlled!”

“Don’t be so sure.”There’s something sickly about the Manotaur’s grin. 

“Owlbert!”Eda commands her palisman as the Manotaurs fully close in.“Get out of here!”She can handle being captured.She’s gotten herself out of far too many pickles to not have a fair amount of confidence that she can get out of this too (even if that confidence is dwindling).But if the Manotaurs get ahold of her staff, they can do real damage.

Eda can’t allow that.Even if it is the last thing she ever does.

* * *

“You draw the glyph.”Luz demonstrates with a pen and post-it note.“Then you tap the center of it like this to cast.”

The paper crumples.A little ball of light rises.Luz cups it in her hands and holds it out for Mabel and Dipper to inspect.They oooh and ahhh.Behind them, their Grunkle Ford looks up from where he’s sketching King in his notes.From his position leaning against the wall, Stan merely grunts, expressing how not impressed he supposedly is (Luz knows he’s secretly impressed and just doesn’t want to show it).

“Like this?”Dipper scribbles on his own post-it.He taps it with his pen.Nothing happens.He frowns.

“Here, let me see.”Luz pulls his note toward herself and examines the symbol he drew.“It can be tricky.The first time I tried magic, I wanted to do a spell circle like Eda does, but those don’t work for me.”She frowns.“Although this should work for both of us, since we’re both human.Maybe you didn’t draw it right? Do it again.”

Dipper eagerly starts scribbling.Mabel looks up from her own attempt, watches him, and then scrutinizes her work.She crumples her post-it up in her fist, peels off a new one from the stack, and starts over.

It doesn’t take long for the twins to finish drawing.They raise their writing utensils, prepared to cast the spell, and—

CRASH!!!!

Window glass shatters.Shouts and yells come from the direction of the gift shop.Beneath all the tumultuous noises, a small set of wings beat furiously.They come closer and closer...

Owlbert charges into the room.He swoops around the perimeter.His eyes land on Luz.He dives, lands in front of her.All the post-its and pens get knocked into disarray.Owlbert hoots urgently at Luz.

Luz eyes go wide.

“Oh no!Eda’s in trouble!”


	4. Into The Woods

Eda squirms.A few strands of her hair are yanked out for her troubles.They stay in the amber she’s immobilized in.Eda winces.She needs to be careful how she moves or she’ll lose all her hair, which will hurt.A lot.

She pouts.Her fang sticks out past her lips.It’ll be a pain to get the amber out of her hair later, too.

All of this is really just a nuisance.Statue Guy clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing (if he did, he’d probably have done it by now).She’ll have to waste time escaping (and stopping) him, regardless.As much as Eda loves chaos herself, Statue Guy seems more like the type who’d use its forces to destroy and hurt the people of this realm.Eda can’t allow that.

It will take _ages_.Afterwards, she’ll have to calm Luz and King down from whatever panic they’ve worked themselves into (odds are in favor of Owlbert going back to them and them freaking out that she’s not with her palisman). 

Finally, after all that, Eda still needs to get unicorn hair from the most annoying unicorns in any realm.Sure, the unicorns in the Demon Realm aren’t exactly nice, but they’re still easier to handle than the prissy jerks native to Gravity Falls.Many, _many_ times she’s wished demon unicorns’ hair had the same magical properties as them.It would make her life way easier, but then, life has never seemed too interested in making things easier for her.

“You know,” Eda casually calls over to Statue Guy.“If you want to quit and give up on this whole thing, I won’t judge.”Oh, she will. _A lot_.But why let him know that?

The Manotaur being fully possessed by Statue Guy turns to her.“Oh, no, no, no.I can’t let you go.”He laughs, and really, he _shouldn’t_ do that.Some just don’t have a good laugh.A Manotaur being possessed trying to pull off an Evil Laugh is one of those.His is an insult to Evil Laughs everywhere.“Aren’t you the least bit curious what my plan is for you?”

“Yeah, sure.”Eda would have shrugged, but her arms being stuck in amber sort of restrict any and all movement.“I assume it has something to do with world domination, making everyone bend to your will, blah, blah, blah.”She rolls her eyes.“I’m going to be honest with you, you’re not the first to give me the ‘join me, we’ll rule the world together’ speech.”She shoots him an exasperated look.“See, it always starts out sounding fairly good, but when you take a closer look, you realize all the guy at the top wants to do is smother anything wild and free.”Eda narrows her eyes.“Which doesn’t exactly sit well with me.”

Statue Guy comes over to her.The Manotaur he’s possessing looms.“You’re wrong.I’m going to liberate this dimension, and _all_ the others.We’ll all be _free_.Without restrictions.Without laws.Nothing and no one to stop us from doing whatever we want, whenever we want!The fun will never stop!”

“Right,” Eda deadpans.“And destroying the humans’ world is somewhere in all of that, right?”

Statue Guy makes the Manotaur shrug.“It’s easier to remake a broken world.You can’t deny that it’ll be entertaining.”

“I mean I _can_ , and I _do_.”Eda scowls.A feather drops from her hair to her nose.She blows it off.It floats to the ground.Wait, a _feather_ …?

“We’ll see how long you last.”Statue Guy smirks in a way Eda supposes he thinks is condescending and is really just kind of obnoxious.To be fair, he doesn’t know what’s coming.

Eda exhales.Welp, she’s going to escape, but it’s not going to be much fun for her.“Yeah, the same can be said about you, pal.I forgot to take my elixir this morning.”Or not enough of it.

“What’s that have to do with anythi—WHAT THE—!”

The owl beast bursts out of the amber and roars in its captor’s face.

* * *

Once Eda’s staff is safety delivered into Luz’s hands, Owlbert lands on her shoulder.Feeling the reassuring pressure of the palisman’s weight gives Luz a confidence boost.On her own, she’s not sure she has enough magic to stand her ground in a real fight, but with Owlbert, she knows she can do significantly more.

Luz makes eye contact with King.He nods back at her in silent agreement.“Lead the way, Owlbert,” Luz tells the little owl.

“Okay, hold up just one minute.”Stan blocks their path to the door.“You can’t just go marching out there—”

Luz opens her mouth to protest.

“—without proper preparations.”Stan finishes with a smirk.

“Or without us!”Mabel bounds up to Luz and wraps her arms around one of Luz’s.She pulls a grappling hook out from somewhere.A pocket maybe?But it doesn’t look like her clothes have pockets?So where could she have possibly…?

Luz stops trying to figure it out before she gets completely lost in the train of thought, and refocuses back on the task at hand.“I can’t ask you guys to do that.We don’t even know what the trouble is yet and—”

“And nothing, kid,” Stan interrupts.“We’re helping.”He pinches the bridge of his nose.“Look, we don’t know each other, but the little guy—” he jerks a thumb in King’s direction “—can tell you Eda and I go way back.So, if the owl says that she’s is in trouble, the Pines family has got your backs.No arguments.”

“Luz?”King grabs onto her hand.“The old guy’s pretty good in a fight.Trust me.”

Luz gives up.“Alright.You guys can help.”

“Got the supplies!”Wendy announces while walking into the room, grabbing everyone’s attention.She puts a large box down in the middle of the floor.She grins.“I got the unicorn hair bracelets and the magnet guns.Couldn’t find the flashlight with the crystal, though.You have your brass knuckles on you?”Wendy asks Stan, who nods.

“Wow, you guys really are prepared.”Luz approaches the box and looks at all the amazing stuff in it.

Dipper picks up what Luz assumes to be a magnet gun.“This isn’t the first time we’ve had to save the world.No big deal.”He attempts a cool, suave pose with the weapon but messes it up at the last minute.Dipper nearly drops the magnet gun.He yelps.Luz can’t help but giggle.Dipper’s face goes red and he pulls his hat down over his face.

Honestly, Luz is a little relieved that the Pines are willing to help and they have all these tools.Since she used up a good amount of her paper to give Dipper and Mabel their impromptu magic lesson, she doesn’t have much left to make more glyphs.

Luz glances back over at Dipper and Mabel’s failed attempts.It’s worrying that they weren’t able to cast the spells too.On the Boiling Isles, the isles themselves power her magic.When she cast her light spell to show off to Dipper and Mabel and it worked, Luz assumed Gravity Falls has similar magic reserves.But the fact that only the _one_ spell worked makes her wonder if it used up whatever ambient magic may be around.If there’s none left, she won’t be able to use any more of her glyphs.

She’ll definitely need the owl staff’s magic if she’s going to rescue Eda from whatever trouble she’s in.

“Here, put this on.”Mabel takes hold of Luz’s hand and ties a bracelet of long, rainbow-colored hair around her wrist.

Luz stares at the hair bracelet.It feels kinda tingly against her skin.“Um, thanks?”

“It’s unicorn mane hair,” Ford explains.“It has a natural protective aura against weirdness.We used it to make a force field around the shack once.Since we can’t stay in here all the time and we’d need a lot more than just us to convert the building into the Shacktron again, it’s the quickest way to protect against Gravity Falls’s natural weirdness.”

Luz wants to ask about the ‘Shacktron’, but she doesn’t want to spend any more time waiting around.She files the question away for later, after they save Eda.

Finally, armed with magnet guns, brass knuckles, a grappling hook, and a baseball bat, Luz, King, and the Pines set off into the woods.Owlbert flies above them, leading the way.

* * *

Under any other circumstances, Luz probably would have enjoyed walking through Gravity Falls’s woods.They’re her favorite type of woods.Warm and sunny, with a light breeze blowing through.Little crunching noises allude to small rodents or, considering the location, other fantastical creatures, hidden within the underbrush.The perfect location to do some fantasy world roleplaying.

The deeper in they go, the less assured Luz feels.The trees are noticeably clustered closer together here in the deep part of the woods.Their branches longer, thicker.Significantly less sunlight dapples down through the leaves.Some tree trunks even look like they have eyes in their bark, their gaze steadily on Luz.A shiver runs up the back of her neck.She knows its just her mind playing tricks on her, but its hard to shake the feeling that she’s being watched.

Luz focuses on Owlbert’s familiar shape flying just ahead of them.Every now and then he glances back and hoos at her.Luz tightens her grip on Eda’s staff.She’s not alone, she reminds herself.She has Owlbert, King, and the entire Pines family.Even if it _feels_ like she is on her own out here, she’s not.

 _RROOOOAAARRR_!

A familiar screech reverberates through the air.A series of loud thumps and yells follows it.Something, that Luz hopes is a tree branch, _CRACKS_.Luz runs forward before she can think about what she’s doing.

“EDA!”Luz knows what she’s going to find when she emerges into the clearing, but the sight of it makes her stomach drop out from under her regardless.

Eda, in owl beast form, is fighting a group of what appear to weird minotaur creatures (minotaur is the closest mythological creature Luz can think of, considering they’re definitely half-bull, half-man, but she’s not completely sure _that_ ’s what they are, given all the tattoos they have).The weird minotaurs aren’t much of a fight for the owl beast.Many are already sprawled around the clearing, unconscious.

“EDA!”Luz yells again.“Eda, stop!”She scrambles forward, only to be yoinked back by a firm hand.“What are you doing?!”Luz whirls on Ford, who’s holding her back.“I need to stop Eda!”

“You mean to tell me that creature is—?”Ford doesn’t have time to finish the question before Luz wiggles out of his grip and ducks under his arm.

Luz’s mind races, trying to come up with ways to stop both Eda and the minotaurs from getting hurt.They didn’t bring any elixir with them.Why didn’t they bring any elixir with them?Sure, it hadn’t seemed important earlier.Eda seemed like her normal self, but Luz should have known better.The curse can take control any time.It _has_ , and now Eda is…

Owlbert swoops in front of Luz, and locks into the staff.Magic surges beneath Luz’s fingertips.She takes a breath.She needs to focus.What spell can bring Eda back?Remind her of who she is?

When she and King fought the owl beast when they were trapped in the house during the boiling rains, the light spell had been what worked.It’s not dark here, but maybe if Luz casts one anyway, if Eda sees the little orb of light, then she’ll _remember_.Luz closes her eyes, focuses.She doesn’t have much experience wielding the staff, but she’s sure she can—

“ _LUZ_!” Mabel’s panicked yell shatters Luz’s concentration.She opens her eyes just in time to widen them before a minotaur’s body slams into her.The owl staff is knocked from her grasp.It goes flying in one direction, Luz in another.

Luz lands on the ground, hard, and rolls to a stop just before a triangular-shaped boulder.She doesn’t have time to consider it.A shadow looms over her.

Eda growls, pins her ears back, and bares her fangs.

Luz’s heart hammers.She has to do something.Fast.Her eyes fall on the unicorn hair bracelet on her wrist.Its rainbow colors shine brightly.Maybe…?Luz can’t afford taking time to wonder about the possibilities.She grabs a light glyph out of her pocket and slaps it against the bracelet.

The glyph absorbs the bracelet’s magic.The unicorn hair turns gray and dull.Powerless.A little ball of light rises.It floats between Luz and Eda, whose eyes are transfixed on it.

“Eda.”Luz exhales.“Eda, it’s me.It’s Luz. _Please_.”

For a moment, there’s nothing.No change.Just hot, smelly breath wafting down onto Luz from above.Then, a flash.A long groan.An embrace.

“Hey, kiddo,” is whispered in Luz’s ear.“Thanks.”

Luz lets out a relieved laugh against Eda’s chest.She hugs her mentor tightly.

After a moment, the two of them start to stand up.Luz reaches out and uses the triangular-shaped boulder to steady herself, specifically by putting her hand on a part of it that kind of looks like an outstretched hand.

It’s nice, Luz thinks, that a friendly stone is helping her up.

The world abruptly turns freezing cold around her.She’s weightless.Floating.Above her body.Luz blinks.Stares down at herself?She’s looking back up at herself too, but she’s _not_ the Luz that’s still standing on the ground beside Eda.That version of herself has glowing, yellow eyes, and is beginning to laugh in a menacing way Luz herself has never done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say that writing Ch5 of this fic is my current fanfic priority. I'm hoping to not make you guys wait as long as you have in the past for a chapter. Okay? Okay.


	5. Owls and Pines

Eda doesn’t hesitate.The moment she hears _that_ laugh, she sweeps a leg forward and kicks Luz’s feet out from under her.Eda reaches out with one hand.Owlbert immediately flies her staff to her.Eda lowers it at the possessed Luz.

“Get out of my apprentice this instant, or so help me, titan, I’ll—”

“You’ll what?”Statue Guy laughs.Eda hates the sound of it coming out of Luz far more than she did the Manotaurs.From them, it was just awful, but Eda’s insides twist up at it coming from Luz.“You can’t hurt me without hurting _her_ ,” Statue Guy goes on.He, with Luz’s face, smirks at her in an obvious taunt.

Eda scowls.As much as she hates to admit it, he does have a point.She raises her staff away.She needs a plan.What spells does she know that’ll break a possession?She can cast someone into Luz’s mind, but she won’t be able to know what’s going on in there, or what damage the ensuing battle would cause.It’s too risky.As is a body swap.Sure, she could swap Statue Guy out of Luz’s mind, but that wouldn’t get rid of him, just put him in another mind.And, if it’s _her_ mind, that’ll give him magic.

Eda’s recent jaunt as the owl beast doesn’t help matters either.The transformation didn’t drain all her power from her, but she definitely has a limited number of spells left.

“Alright, Bill.”Stan walks up from behind Eda and loops an arm casually around her shoulders.She tenses.He winks and gives her a knowing smile.One she hasn’t seen since they were cornered together in a casino with no way out.One that asks her, without words, to trust him, because he has a plan.

Eda raises an eyebrow.Her answer is the same one as it is back then.He has one chance before she starts shooting fireballs.

Stan smirks.He turns back to Statue Guy, Bill, who’s watching them carefully.“Let’s make a deal, you know, for old time’s sake.”

Bill narrows Luz’s eyes.“Yeah, see, the last time I made a deal with _you_ I got stuck _as a stone statue_.”

“Good news for you, then,” Eda cuts in.“You’d be making a deal with _me_ , not him.”She slips out from under Stan’s arm and dismisses him with a condescending pat on the head.Only someone watching extremely closely from above, so just Luz, in her apparition form, would be able to see her slip something small and key-shaped into Stan’s suit.

“I’m listening,” Bill doesn’t seem any less suspicious, but there’s a gleam in Luz’s eyes that signals he’s not above resisting the temptation of a bet.

“Here’s how it’s gonna work.”Eda sits down crosslegged in the grass.She takes out a deck of cards from her pocket.“We’ll play three games of Hexus Hold’em.Best two out of three wins.If you win, you get to possess _my_ body with all its magical powers.”Eda demonstrates with a small light spell, chosen specifically to try and communicate with Luz, who she hopes is still present somehow, to have faith in her mentor.

“And if _you_ win?”

“You willingly return to your statue,” Eda replies simply.It’s not much in terms of winnings, and she’s fairly certain, even if she does win, Bill will find a way to slither out of upholding his end of the bargain, but, what he doesn’t know, is that the games are solely meant to buy time for Stan to set his plan into motion, whatever that may be.“And, to make it a fair game, everyone else will leave the meadow too.”This last part is said more for show, to signal to Stan and the others that they should _get on with it already._

“You’ve got yourself a deal.”

The first game of cards begin, and an unseen clock begins to count down.

* * *

Mabel is the first to try and protest when Stan finally manages to herd everyone under the cover of the trees, out of Bill’s direct line of sight.Stan shushes her hurriedly.“We’re not abandoning them, don’t worry.Eda and I have a plan.”Sort of.

Stan is about 60% sure they actually have a semblance of a plan.He and Eda didn’t actually discuss anything, but then, back in the day, they didn’t have to to pull off a successful scam.It’s been years, _decades_ , but he’s still himself and Eda is still herself.Stan is willing to bet they’re on the same page.He tosses the key Eda slipped him to King, who catches it.“You probably know how to use this best,” Stan tells the demon.

“Yeah, but why—”

“You want to raise an army?Now’s your chance.”

King’s eyes go wide.He presses the button on the key to summon the interdimensional door.“I will return with the MIGHT OF THOUSANDS!”King rushes to the door, but stops before entering it.“On second thought, one of you should come with me.I can’t go very fast with these stubby legs.”He demonstrates by kicking out his feet.

“I’ll go.”Ford steps forward.“I think, out of anyone here, I have the most experience with interdimensional travel.”

“I’ll go too,” Dipper adds, looking curiously at the portal.“Safety in numbers?”

“Right, sure, yeah,” Stan agrees with his great nephew.“But _no detours_ , you two.You’re to get whatever reinforcements King thinks will help us.That’s it.”

Dipper and Ford nod seriously, and then follow King through the portal.

Mabel looks at Stan expectantly.He sighs, and pinches the bridge of his nose.“I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but you and are I going to assemble the Mystery Gang.”

* * *

It’s a peaceful day on the Boiling Isles, for once.Something strange is happening, yes, but something strange always seems to be happening on the remains of the fallen titan.It’s the principle of the thought, really.Normal on the isles _has_ to be peculiar for everyplace else.Who knows what chaos would occur if that natural order of things is disrupted.

Unaware of the eventful change that’s about to happen to their day, three witchlings sit in a grassy meadow near their school and practice their witchcraft.

“Maybe if we try it like this?”Amity summons an abomination and commands it to stay still while Willow casts her plant spell.For a moment, it looks like the two spells are going to combine into one big spell, but then the vines slide off the abomination, which melts into a puddle.

Both Amity and Willow sigh dejectedly.

“We could ask Jerbo for help again?”Willow offers.“He’s been mixing magic a lot longer than us.”

“Yeah,” Amity halfheartedly agrees.“I just really wanted to see if we could do this on our own.”

Willow places a hand on Amity shoulder.“Don’t worry.We’re not there yet, but we will be.It’ll just take a little more time.Trust me, I know.”

Amity smiles tentatively at Willow.“I guess you do.Alright, do you have Jerbo’s contact info--” She cuts off when, with a bright flash and a bang, a door literally appears from out of nowhere.

“What the heck is _that_?”Gus appears some distance aware from where he’d vanished while practicing his invisibility spell to ask the question they’re all thinking.

“I think it’s Eda’s door to the Human Realm?”Willow takes a step closer to the portal.“But what’s it doing way out here?”

Before Amity can add her thoughts on the situation, the door swings open.From out of the bright space beyond it, three figures emerge.One they recognize instantly; King.The other two are unfamiliar humans.The humans look at the three witchlings, who gaze back.

Gus voices what he’s thinking first.“Oh my titan!Eda and Luz have been turned into dudes!Human dudes!”He shouts.

Willow tries to prevent Gus’s imagination from taking off further.“Gus, I really don’t think that’s what’s—”

“HUMAN DUDES!”

“Or, these are different humans.”Amity stands, approaches the newcomers, and looks them up and down.“You _are_ different humans, right?I mean, it would be fine if you’re Luz,” she tells the boy, “and this is just some weird magical shenanigans you and Eda got into, because you’re still _Luz_ and you’re still cute—oh gosh, did I say that out loud?”She laughs awkwardly.“I’m still talking.Why am I still talking?”

“Okay.”Dipper interrupts Amity before her rambling can go further.He can sympathize with having a massive crush, after all.“We’re different humans.I’m Dipper, and this is my Grunkle Ford.”He gestures to Ford, who’s been quietly observing their interaction.“We’re here because—”

“Eda and Luz are in trouble!”King cuts him off.“There’s some weird spirit demon guy with a horrible impression of me in the Human Realm and we need you to join our army to defeat him!”

Amity looks to Willow, who looks to Gus.Simultaneously, the three share a nod.

“Say no more.We’re helping,” Willow speaks for them.

As the group heads through the portal into the Human Realm, the first game of Hexus Hold’em ends in a win for Eda.

* * *

_Bill’s back!We need your help!_

Mabel hits her phone’s send button.Across Gravity Falls, numerous devices vibrate with the incoming text message.Over the span of the next fifteen minutes, people start arriving at the Mystery Shack.The last to arrive is McGucket, who has the farthest distance to cover, coming from his mansion.Once everyone they need for the zodiac is there, they all face Mabel and Stan expectantly.

“So, Triangle Guy’s back,” Pacifica speaks.“What are we doing about it?”

Stan takes a sharp breath in through his teeth.Beyond gathering everyone who represents a symbol on the zodiac, he doesn’t actually have much of a plan.He knows Eda bought him time, and that he can’t waste it, but where to go from here?Yeah, he’s great at schemes, but mostly all his past ones were _one_ person endeavors.There’s an entire group here to organize.

What would Ford do?Stan wishes he hadn’t let his twin go through a portal into another world, and not just because of the anxiety that’s since settled at the bottom of his stomach at the potential scenario of Ford _never coming back_.Stan is not the one they need for this.He’s not the _smart_ one.

Stan glances down at his great niece, who’s looking back at him with clear concern.He can’t just put everything on her shoulders either.Okay, _think_.He already took the first step.He, and Mabel, gathered everyone they would need to do the zodiac, _successfully_ this time.That’s a start.

“Soos,” Stan orders his handyman.“Go get some cans of spray paint.We’re going to need them.Everyone remember that symbol thing Ford wanted to do the first time?”He hopes no one mentions why it didn’t work. _That_ hadn’t been one of his best moments.“We’re going to do it right this time,” Stan goes on.

Before anyone can respond, there’s a bright flash of light.A door with an unsettling-looking eye appears out of nowhere.If Stan hadn’t seen it once before, he probably would have panicked.

“Fascinating,” Ford’s voice precedes him out of the portal.“And how do you differentiate between the covens?What does veterinary science fall under, for instance?Under beast keeping or healing?”

“I, um, I don’t know?”A young girl’s voice answers him.“I know someone who studies both now, though.Maybe we could ask her, but later?You know, after we save Luz and Eda.”

“Of course, of course, I agree wholeheartedly.”Ford steps through the portal.“Save the world again first, study your most intriguing realm after.”He turns his gaze to the gathered group.Specifically, his eyes land on Stan.“So, what’s the plan?”

It takes a small amount of discussing, and realizing they now have three magic users who can help, but a full, relatively solid plan takes hold.United, the Gravity Falls residents and the witchlings (and demon) of the Boiling Isles leave the shack and head back to the meadow.

The second game of Hexus Hold’em ends in victory for Bill.The third game, the tiebreaker, starts. 

* * *

In terms of ways to go, being a ghost while her body is being possessed and her mentor is distracted by card games isn’t what Luz ever expected.The idea never even made the list, and there are some _weird_ things on her list.Most of them added after she discovered the Boiling Isles.Not that Luz wants any of those things to happen, mind you.It’s simply good to know what dangers are out there, so one can prepare for them.

Still, she’d prefer being eaten by fairies to _this_.Luz had thought Eda had gotten over her Hexus Hold’em obsession.It hadn’t been much of a problem since that one time, yet here they are.Luz, a ghost out of her body.Eda, gambling everything on _cards_.

“You know, I was going to visit the unicorns today.Twice, no less.”Eda’s voice draws Luz’s attention.The ghostly girl pays more attention to what’s happening.Eda is shuffling the cards for her and Bill’s third game.“Their mane hair is great for potions,” Eda goes on.

“Yeah, sure, you going anywhere with this?”Her voice speaking when its not actually _her_ talking makes Luz feel squirmy.It would have made a shiver run up her spine if she still had a physical form.

“I only need _one_ visit to get what I need from those jerks.”Eda answers Bill.“The second visit wasn’t for me.My apprentice, she’d _love_ to meet unicorns native to her own realm.I was going to convince them to play nice, just for her.”Eda places her last card face down in the grassy space between them.“See, I’d do anything for that kid. _Anything._ ”

“Even lose a bet?”Bill makes Luz’s face grin.“Because I’m going to wi—wait, WHAT?!”His attention goes to the far side of the meadow.Luz and Eda follow his gaze.

A group of ten people appear out of the woods.Most Luz doesn’t recognize, but a few she does.The Pines.Mr. Mystery, ‘Soos’ she thinks his name was.Wendy the teenager.King is with them too.

Bill jerks Luz’s body up, scattering his Hexus Hold’em cards in the process.He charges over to the group. He knocks a can of spray paint out of Ford’s hands, grabs it, and flings it into the woods.“Very clever, sixer, but I KNEW you’d try to trick me.I LET you.And now, I WIN!”He snaps Luz’s fingers, clearly expecting something to happen.“I win!” Bill repeats both words and action.He frowns.“I said I _win_.”Bill looks back to where he left the game of Hexus Hold’em.

Eda crosses her arms and smiles back at him.At her feet are the demolished ruins of his cards.“No, you _forfeited_.You left the game.”She pauses, and then adds, “Sucker.”

Bill twists Luz’s face into a scowl, then a gloating smirk.“We didn’t _shake_ on it.It wasn’t a _true_ deal.I still have the kid’s body!I stopped them from completing the zodiac!There’s NOTHING—”

A pair of thick, gooey, purple arms reaches down and lifts Luz’s body up into the air. 

Amity steps out of the woods.“Good work, abomination.”

Bill struggles, but fails to escape the abomination’s hold.“What is this?!”

“This is your DOOM, you imposter!”King, riding on Gus’s shoulders as he too steps into the meadow, shouts.“There’s only room for one demon in any realm whose voice strikes fear in all those who hear it, and that’s ME!”

“You?!”Bill asks incredulously.“Who, what even are—?”

“Like he said, we’re your doom.”Gus interrupts before Bill can finish.He snaps his fingers.The group gathered for the zodiac vanishes with a ‘poof’.They were never there to begin with.It had all been an illusion.A trick.“Now, get out of my friend.”

“NO!”Bill wiggles Luz’s body until he manages to retrieve her glyphs out of her pocket.“I will—”He slams one of the glyphs down onto the abomination’s body.“—HA!”Green vines shoot out of the abomination, except they don’t destroy it as Bill expected.The abomination merely groans.

“LUZ!”Dipper emerges from the tree line and calls out.“I know you’re here.You can possess things!”He points to the abomination.

Luz doesn’t hesitate.She swoops down and inhabits the abomination.

Stan approaches from behind Eda, places a hand on her shoulder, and once again gives her a knowing smile.“If you would do the honors?”He gestures.

Eda grins back at Stan.“With pleasure.”She takes hold of her staff, spins it to form the perfect spell for this situation, and aims carefully so her magic will only hit the abomination and Luz’s body.

“BODY SWAP!”

The spell’s aim is true.It slams into its targets.Luz returns to her body, and drops out of the abomination’s grasp.

Bill inhabits the abomination.He rises to the vessel’s full height.He examines it.The abomination’s body is nearly indestructible, and also, thanks to his own quick thinking, covered in extremely sharp thorns.“You fools!You’ve given me something far better than a fleshsack!”He attacks.

The abomination’s body lurches.The vines sprouted from it tighten around its limbs, immobilizing Bill.

Willow joins the gathered group.“Yeah, you probably shouldn’t have used a plant spell,” she tells Bill in a sweet voice.She closes one hand into a fist.The vines shove the abomination toward the ground, pinning it down.“Now, you guys!”

The Mystery Gang, the real one, not an illusion, steps out from the woods.The real Ford uses a can of spray paint to draw the zodiac around the immobilized abomination.The ten who represent the symbols step forward and join hands.

There’s a blinding flash of light.A shockwave blows past everyone gathered.The original Bill statue shatters into dust.When the light eventually fades, they can see a new statue has been formed out of the abomination’s body.However, due to the gelatinous nature of the abomination, its more of a lumpy boulder than a true statue.

Once again, Bill is trapped.This time with no hand to hold out in the hopes someone either brave or foolish will shake it.

Everyone takes a breath.The inhabitants of Gravity Falls gravitate toward each other and quietly discuss securing the meadow, so something like this can never happen again.Luz runs to Eda and hugs her.Seeing the embrace, King bounds over and throws himself in the middle of them.

Only when they’re sure, for the time being, that the meadow is secure (and all the Manotaurs are safe and unpossessed once again as well), does the full group depart and make their way back to the Mystery Shack.

A woodpecker flies by overhead.Right as it’s passing over the Bill boulder, it poos on it.

* * *

Water balloons of every color go flying across the yard in front of the Mystery Shack.Amity ducks to avoid being hit, lunges, snatches the still intact projectile off the ground, and tosses it to Willow, who throws it at Dipper.Mabel jumps in front of her brother to protect him, and laughs when she ends up soaking.

“Yeah!Go Team Magic!”Gus cheers from the sidelines.There’s no real competition to the game, but the kids, as a whole, did decide to split off into two teams of three.Luz, Amity, and Willow form ‘Team Magic’, and Dipper, Mabel, and Pacifica, ‘Team Mystery’.Since he would have been a fourth member to Team Magic, thus giving them one extra player, Gus had taken up the role of cheerleader, on the sidelines with his flags.He doesn’t mind so long as he gets the opportunity to throw water balloons himself every now and then.

Stan sips his can of Pitt cola, reclines against the porch sofa, and sighs contentedly.This is the type of perfect summer afternoon he’d sorely missed.Sure, there was all the drama with banishing Bill _again_ , but that’s over now and he has a (relatively) peaceful summer with his great niece and nephew to look forward too.

Next to Stan, King cracks an eye open, observes how the water balloon fight is going for a minute, and then returns to his nap in the warm sunshine.He’d planned on joining in the fun at first, but one too many balloons breaking against his horns changed his mind, so King lazed about instead.

Eda and Ford walk out of the shack.“Come back anytime if you need more unicorn hair,” Ford tells Eda, pauses, then hastily adds, “Or anything else.Really, it’s no trouble at all and—”

“Easy there, Poindexter,” Stan interrupts him with a laugh.“You don’t know what you’d be getting yourself into going after this one.”He jerks a finger at Eda.“She’s wily.”

“Oh, like _you_ would know.”Eda smirks at Stan, who rolls his eyes.She turns to face the water balloon fight.“Luz!Other kids from our realm!Time to go home!”

“Aww!” come the protesting groans.

“Or I could leave you here forever…” Eda shrugs.“Let old man Stan here have to deal with your antics for a while.”

“Watch it,” Stan barks back at her.“You’re not so young yourself.”

“Still younger than you,” Eda retorts, flipping her hair back.She winks at Stan.

Stan groans.“Just _go_ already, will you.”

While Stan and Eda fall into an old, familiar teasing pattern, the kids stop their water balloon fight.Mabel wraps her arms around Luz in a big, bear hug, which she yanks Dipper into.It then escalates into a full group hug, with Mabel clicking her phone camera to take numerous selfies of all of them to commemorate the occasion.

“Here.”Mabel takes Luz’s phone and types her name and number in as a new contact.“You gotta tell me all about the awesome adventures you have!”

“And you have to tell me all about the ones you have too!”Luz replies, “and if you meet any cute hotties this summer.”

Mabel shrugs.“We’ll see.”A sparkle appears in her eyes.“Speaking of summer romances, what’s going on between you and Amity?”She waggles her eyebrows.

“Me and Amity?We’re just friends.Good friends.Like I like her, but, I mean…” Luz rambles off.

“Uh-huh.”Mabel grins knowingly at Luz.Behind her Dipper groans.

“Not _everything_ is about romance,” he tells them in a grumbling tone.

“Alright.Alright.”Eda approaches the kids, dimensional portal key in hand and King burrowed comfortably in her hair.“We need to go. _Now_.”She opens the portal and herds Luz and the others through.“Good luck with the singing competition,” Eda calls back to Stan, right before the door winks closed.

“Singing competition?”

The moment the Owl House gang is gone, every exhibit in the shack opens up and begins singing 90s pop songs as loudly as possible.It may not be the prank Eda set out to do, but she’d be remiss if she was going to leave Gravity Falls without doing _something_.

“EDA!”Stan drops to his knees, yells, and vows vengeance.

One day, he and the entire Pines family, will make it to the Boiling Isles, and prank Edalyne Clawthorne back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've reading this, you've read Weirdly Magical through to the end. I want to thank you for getting here, for coming on this rollercoaster of a fic with me. I didn't really know what I was getting into when I started Weirdly, way back when in January, and it's taken so many zany detours and side quests along the way, I wasn't sure if it would ever come to a close. Reaching this point feels special, because of that.
> 
> I also want to thank you guys for being patient. This is a relatively short fic all things considered, but its updates happened over the course of literally nine months. The patience you guys showed, and the fact that you kept coming back, even after I let this fic go for an extended period, still kinda amazes me. You have no idea how much I appreciate it, and the love you've showed for this fic.
> 
> Just, like, I sorta lost my outline after chapter 2? and chs 3, 4, and 5 were largely written by me just flat out winging it and hoping everything would come together in the end. I spent a huge amount of time worrying about this fic, I kid you not. The fact that you guys loved and enjoyed these chapters is largely what gave me the push I needed to finally write to the end, and it gives me warm fuzzy feelings still.
> 
> As a final note, I will say, this may not be the end of me writing the Owl House/Gravity Falls crossovers. I don't want to go into details, because things are still in the early stages of developing (and I don't want to detract from this being Weirdly's moment), but there could potentially be more fics like this sometime in the future 😉


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